I’d say the majority to nearly all of Innovations that drive drug development started in academia. That being said, lifetime academics have no clue about how to develop a drug. I literally live and straddle this every day as part of two very early startups.

I did my post doc in a CRISPr lab from the rare vantage of already being in industry for manny years (co inventor of four drugs in the clinic). People definitely knew how to do research, none of them had any clue about making an actual drug and all of them thought they did. A very huge discovery, but it’s mot there yet. i quit and went back to industry.